4. PRACTICE CORRECTLY

Unless you're a descendent of the Lincoln or the Douglas family lines, you'll need to rehearse your speech several times before presenting it. The best speakers become effective speakers through constant practice. The main things to keep in mind:

Methods of practice
Incorporate gestures
Project your voice
Include visual aids (when necessary)

Methods of practice

  • Stand in front of a full-length mirror and try to look like a public speaker. Keep your posture straight, your hands in sight, and look into your own eyes. Tell yourself, "Gosh darn it, people want to hear what I have to say!" and then begin delivering your speech. Be conscious of the way you look in the mirror and adjust yourself accordingly as you're talking. Make sure that you're not being stiff, but always maintain an alert posture, or the audience will end up imitating your slump. Look into your eyes whenever you look up from your notes, and look up from your notes often.

  • Tape record or (even better) videotape yourself delivering the presentation. When you replay the tape, listen to determine if everything sounds coherent and logical, and watch the way you look while speaking. Look for eye contact, gestures, and weird facial tics.

  • Gather together some friends, family, nuns and pets together, sit them down, and deliver yor whole spiel to them. After it's over, ask them to give you some constructive feedback (the last thing you need to do is have your confidence shaken). Ask them to tell you about what you did well and what you need work on. Ask them to tell you what they didn't understand. If they have no advice to offer, tell them that if you bomb during the real thing, they'll have to eat the rotten tomatoes sliding down your body.

  • Rehearse small sections of your speech throughout the day. If you've got 5 or 10 minutes (like during your regularly scheduled zoning out sessions at work or school) go over parts of the speech in your mind. These mini-rehearsals are easier to fit into your schedule and will give you a chance to practice parts of the speech that are giving you trouble.

  • As you improve, see if you can memorize sections without relying on the notes at all. These memorized sections will give you prolonged time to connect to the audience.

  • Once you feel very comfortable with the material, don't be afraid to ad-lib some parts when you feel like it. This is your speech and you can say whatever you want; as long as you're sure you can get back on track, try speaking off the cuff. It'll help you sound conversational instead of like a robot.

Incorporate gestures

It is not fun to watch a popsicle; it is imperative that you occasionally use a gesture or two during your speech. Here are some tips for effective gesturing:

  • Less is more. The more gestures you make, the more it takes away from the power of each gesture. So use gestures to emphasize important points. If you use too many gestures, you'll look like a windmill, arms brandishing about.

  • Use gestures when using active words. So if you're talking about a split between to people (or organizations or concepts), use a gesture that emphasizes it. If you're talking about a synergy or meshing of people (or organizations or concepts), then use a gesture that emphasizes it.

  • Practice your gestures in front of the mirror as you rehearse.

  • And don't forget the most important gesture: to SMILE. It makes you look more comfortable and less like a victim in front of a firing squad.

Project your voice

Contrary to popular belief, projecting your voice does not mean shouting. When you project, you simply raise the volume of your natural speaking voice without losing control of it (that's when it becomes "shouting"). Think of the difference between talking to someone in a noisy restaurant, and calling your dog in from the backyard.

You must always project while giving a speech, even if you are presenting in a small room. Find the object furthest away from you and deliver your speech to it. During the first minute of speaking, monitor your audience members' faces (especially the ones in the back row) to see if they look confused. If you notice that they are not paying attention from the very start, stop yourself and ask if everyone can hear you. If there's no reply, you just got your answer!

Include visual aids (when necessary)

Visual aids are not always necessary, but they are good to include if they help you get your point across. The key is to make sure that they ADD to your speech. After all, it's just plain dumb if during a speech about saving the trees, you whip out a picture of a tree. We all know what trees look like. It is equally useless to present a very complicated diagram that someone sitting in the tenth row can barely see, let alone decipher. So keep your visual aids very simple. Images and uncomplicated graphs are best, but if you want to make a list of points to go over, keep each line of the list brief, and the number of lines just as short. We recommend five words per line and five lines per visual aid.